Wbc

[Happy Camper]

After 3 months of Prednisone and Cytoxan I went into remission. Then I was switched to Imuran in Oct. and slowly meaned off the Pred. My last does of Pred. was March 7th. I have been doing really good and my lung nodules are almost completly gone. Then 2 weeks ago my WBC came back at 3.3. I had to stop the Imuran for 2 weeks and restart at only 75mg (I was taking 100mg). My WBC are back up to 4.5. Is this pretty common? Have alot of you guys had problems maintaining your WBC's. Thanks

[delorisdoe]

I do believe it is a side effect of the meds used to treat wg. It happens to me the doctors treat it and then continue treatment.

Leigh

[drz]

I do believe it is a side effect of the meds used to treat wg. It happens to me the doctors treat it and then continue treatment.

Leigh

I had recurring low WBC with Cytoxan and had to eventually stop it but haven't had that problem yet with azathioprin. It is still being monitored but seems to treat me better than cytoxan did.

[elephant]

Only one time tht I know of my WBC dropped just being on Cellcept.

[Happy Camper]

Thanks for all your response. Hopefully it was just a one time thing. Dr. Langford said it is common when you go off the Pred. (b/c they help maintain your WBC) I also lost a few pounds maybe the 100mg was just to much for me. Its hard to eat lately, don't have much of an appetite.

[gurinbasra]

Funny, I thought the Pred worked on lower your WBC - can someone clarify? Anyway, even after a year of chemo, my WBC has never been lower than 7, which I had only after taking the Rtx the first time. Currently it's at 11.5 and I'm into month 3 after second round of Rtx, seems to run on average around 10.

[delorisdoe]

I can not clarify because i dont ask too much at the doctors but...my doctor once told me that as prednisone gets tapered the symptoms of cytoxan may be more noticable. as i lower prednisone my hair loss and wbc became affected so this turned out to be true for me.

leigh

[Chris G]

Funny, I thought the Pred worked on lower your WBC - can someone clarify? Anyway, even after a year of chemo, my WBC has never been lower than 7, which I had only after taking the Rtx the first time. Currently it's at 11.5 and I'm into month 3 after second round of Rtx, seems to run on average around 10.

Yes, pred does elevate the wbc. My wbc refuses to dip below 10.6k, even though I've been on mtx for 6 months. In my (feeble) mind, with a wbc of 11k, I assumed the mtx was not doing a thing to supress my immune system! My doc's tell me it's the pred that's keeping it elevated.